The Bruins have won seven games in a row and can make it eight with a victory over the fourth-place Penguins. Pittsburgh has struggled of late, but that can be expected from a team playing without Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. The Penguins have won just one of their last seven games, going 1-2-4. Five of their last seven have gone into overtime.

The Bruins announced Friday that they have recalled defenseman Matt Bartkowski from Providence on an emergency basis. The news comes on the same day that defenseman Steven Kampfer was diagnosed with a mild concussion. With Andrew Ference also on the mend due to a lower-body injury, the B’s found themselves with only five defensemen prior to the call-up.

Bartkowski, a native of Pittsburgh, has played two games in his NHL career, and coincidentally, both have been against the Penguins. The Bruins host the Penguins Saturday night.

WILMINGTON — The Bruins will be without two players when they host the Penguins Saturday at TD Garden. Steven Kampfer, who scored in Thursday’s 2-1 win, left the game following a hard hit from Mattias Ritola and on Friday was diagnosed with a mild concussion. CoachClaude Julien said after Friday’s practice at Ristuccia Arena that the 22-year-old is expected to miss a week.

Patrice Bergeron, meanwhile, is not with the team and has travelled elsewhere due to “personal reasons,” according to the coach. He will not play against the Penguins. It will be the first game the 25-year-old has missed all season.

WILMINGTON — There were no new faces in the house at Ristuccia Arena for Friday’s practice, though a couple of familiar ones were missing in Steven Kampfer and Patrice Bergeron.

Kampfer left Thursday night’s 2-1 win over the Lightning in the second period due to a hard hit from Mattias Ritola. Claude Julien said after the game that he “got his bell rung” and would be re-evaluated Friday. It may just be a rest/maintenance day for Bergeron.

Bruins coachClaude Julien said after Thursday’s 2-1 win that rookie defenseman Steven Kampfer “got his bell rung” before leaving the game in the second period.

“The doctors wanted to be cautious and kept him off,” Julien said. “He’ll be reevaluated tomorrow and we’ll see how he feels.”

Despite leaving the game shortly after a hit from Mattias Ritola, Kampfer played a key role in the game. His failure to successfully get the puck out of the offensive zone resulted in the Lightning’s lone goal, and he made up for the play by scoring his fifth goal of the season.

Milan Lucic kept up his recent hot streak and improved the Bruins’ win streak to seven games by scoring the game-winning goal at 16:18 of the third in a 2-1 victory over the Lightning at TD Garden.

Lucic, who had eight points over the B’s recent six-game road trip, fired a wrist shot past both a mess of bodies and Lightning goaltender Mike Smith at an odd angle to give him his 28th goal of the season and the Bruins a big victory. With the win, the Bruins now lead the Lightning by two points for second place in the Eastern Conference.

Eric Brewer opened the scoring in the game, beating Tim Thomas at 4:04 of the second for his ninth goal of the season. Steven Kampfer responded with his his fifth of the season at 6:06. Kampfer would later take a big hit in the corner from Mattias Ritola and not return to the game.

Thomas made 27 saves and picked up the victory, improving to 29-8-6 on the season.

WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR THE BRUINS

– Kampfer did a good job of both redeeming himself and scoring his first goal in quite a while. After his turnover in the Bruins’ zone led to Brewer’s goal, he responded in short order by beating Smith with a snapshot from the point to tie the score at one. It was Kampfer’s fifth goal of the season, and first since Jan. 13. His status after leaving the game, however, is unclear.

– It was a good home debut for Rich Peverley and Chris Kelly, both of whom have been able to strike up good chemistry on their line with Michael Ryder. Both Kelly and Peverley, donning home sweaters for the first time at TD Garden, were credited with a helper on Kampfer’s goal and were a plus-1 on the night.

– Johnny Boychuk was crushing people. He laid a huge hip check on Nate Thompson in the third and followed it up with a big hit in the corner on Blair Jones.

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE BRUINS

– When things get chippy between the Bruins and their opponents, the obvious way to settle it is by dropping the gloves. The Lightning aren’t that kind of team (they’re 27th in the league in major penalties while the B’s are 4th), and it seemed the only way the B’s could find a fight was to wind up shorthanded. That was the case in the second period, when a Nathan Horton trip and Lucic roughing penalty resulted in Lucic dropping the gloves with Brewer. The B’s wound up having to kill a 5-on-3, but they did so successfully.

– Once again, the power play looked very good despite the fact that it didn’t get results. Still, sooner or later, results are how that facet must be judged. The B’s were 0-for-3 on the man advantage Thursday, and they’re now 1-for-16 since acquiring Tomas Kaberle, who looked good in keeping the puck in during Brewer’s high sticking penalty but also sent the puck out with a blind pass. Still, the unit appeared to be vastly improved, and it’s hard to imagine results not coming in the near future.

– Smith entered the game with a 3.20 goals against average, but he sure didn’t play like it. The Lightning netminder came up with huge saves throughout the night, robbing Patrice Bergeron in the first, Horton on a breakaway in the second and Brad Marchand in the slot in the third.

Things got ramped up a bit (both scoring-wise and otherwise) in the second period, and the Bruins and Lightning are tied at one goal apiece entering the third.

From a goals perspective, it was a tale of two Steve Kampfers. The rookie blueliner couldn’t get the puck out of the Bruins’ zone just over four minutes into the period, and the play resulted in Eric Brewer beating Tim Thomas for his ninth goal of the season at 3:04. Kampfer would make up for it, as he scored his fifth of the season with a blast from the point at 6:06. Chris Kellyand Rich Peverley, both making their home debut as Bruins, picked up assists on the play.

The Bruins have shown throughout the season that they can handle the high intensity, high physicality games. They’ve done so against some of the tougher teams in the league, and it seems they’re trying to do the same against a team that isn’t known for dropping the gloves.

There was a lot of chippy play in the second period Thursday night (some of which even came from Martin St. Louis) and it finally culminated in a fight when Milan Lucic tangoed with Brewer at 10:10. While seemingly a potential momentum-booster in a tied game at first glance, the play resulted in the Lightning getting a two-man advantage. Nathan Horton had tripped Sean Bergenheim, and when Bergenheim responded, Lucic jumped in and was eventually assessed a roughing minor. The B’s ended up killing off the 5-on-3.